Kowalski Lives On
by PixieGirl73
Summary: Note: I am writing this in AU form. What if Kowalski did not make impact with those tractors that were put in place by the cops to stop him? What if he did make it to California and continued with his livelihood, which was delivering cars? Also, in this one, he was in process of delivering a '72 Camaro.


**Kowalski Lives On**

Copyright Disclaimer: The character, Kowalski, from the 1971 movie "Vanishing Point" does not belong to me. This is just a FanFic- only writing this for fun. :) However, the stripper character, Venus (real name: Norma), and the bartender ("Sid") are mine.

Note: I am writing this in AU form. What if Kowalski did not make impact with those tractors that were put in place by the cops to stop him? What if he did make it to California and continued with his livelihood, which was delivering cars? Also, in this one, he was in process of delivering a '72 Camaro.

FanFic genre: AU (alternate universe)

Location and time: Hollywood, mid 1970's.

Kowalski walked into the seedy stripclub to meet with the owner who dealt out "uppers". Even though it was dusk outside, Kowalski kept his sunglasses on. Best to keep a low profile. Making his way to the bar and letting the bartender that he was there to speak with the owner, Kowalski was advised by the bartender to wait.

He planted himself on one of the barstools, and looked around at the goings on in the joint from behind his darkened sunglasses. It was right then and there when he noticed _her_.

Leaning against the bar in his brown bomber, white shirt, Levi's and black boots, Kowalski watched, entranced and enchanted, as the girl cavorted around in the water tank. He lowered his sunglasses to get a better look at her. She was a pretty redhead, wearing a space-age silver dive suit with closed feet. She caught his eye, smiled, and really let herself have fun. _Damn, that man is hot! Who is he? Where did he come from?_ After her dance routine, she had to go talk to him. She couldn't help but notice, though, with amusement, that he was wearing sunglasses in a darkened room. Obviously, trying to be "cool."

She cavorted around on the stripper pole that was specially made for the tank. She performed all sorts of interesting moves on it, all the while watching Kowalski in return.

She caressed her breasts through her suit, never taking her eyes off of him, always smiling, her alluring eyes daring him to come join her. She licked her lips enticingly. She went to the top of the tank to take occasional deep hits out of the oxygen mask that hung nearby. Then she came back to him and continued to touch herself.

Kowalski felt a stirring in his groin. Damn it! What is it with girls who touch themselves in front of him? What is it about himself that gets girls riled up like this? He couldn't understand. He saw himself as an average-looking Joe, not much to look at. He simply wasn't aware of how devastatingly handsome he was to a lot of women.

She temporarily takes off her weight belt, and proceeds to unzip her dive suit. She then peels it off to reveal a matching silver bikini. She puts the belt back on and continues to caress her own body. She enjoys the attention that Kowalski's giving to her.

Kowalski looks down at the floor for a moment, annoyed at himself for viewing (and obviously enjoying) what was happening before his eyes. He was in his early 40's; she appeared to be around her mid 20's. He hoped that he didn't appear to her as a leering, dirty old man going through a mid-life crisis. When he looked up again to look at her, he wasn't smiling. She caught his look, and frowned, but it wasn't an angry frown; more like one of concern: a _Hey, are you ok?_ kind of frown. To her, he had such a sad expression on his face.

"You Kowalski?"

Kowalski turned around to come face-to-face with the stripclub owner. The owner was a short, stocky, balding man. Kowalski nodded, wordlessly. The owner noticed that Kowalski was watching Venus, one of the most sought-after strippers in the place. "Hot girl, huh?"

"Yeah." Kowalski tried not to think too much about her. He was here to get his pills and get on out of there.

Turning to face the bar, though staring ahead at nothing in particular, Kowalski asked, "You have the bennies?"

"You have the money?"

Kowalski nodded, discreetly reaching inside of his jacket and produced a thick wad of money. The owner counted it; satisfied, he discreetly slipped into Kowalski's hand, a vial of pills.

"Thanks."

"Yep. Come again. But not too soon. Like I said on the phone, this did NOT take place. Got that, pal?" The owner sneered. He did not want his drug dealings to be known throughout town. Stuff like this is best kept on the down-low. Kowalski nodded, silent.

"Get out of here." With that said, the owner was gone.

Kowalski took one more glance at Venus, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket, turned and walked away. A few of the regulars of the night club stared after him. _What an odd character. Who is he?_

He felt wrong for watching her, wanting her. _It's not right..._

The girl quickly swam up to the top of the tank, got out, threw her robe and flip-flops on and hurried down the steps as fast as she could. She had to go talk to him. She hoped she didn't turn him off in any way. She was really liking this sexy stranger that came in out of nowhere. Her eyes quickly scanned the crowd; no sign of the man. Quickly, she ran to the bar where he was standing a few moments before. 

"Sid!"

"What?" he yelled back in his thick Cockney accent.

"Who was that guy?"

"What guy?"

"There was a guy, standing here a few moments ago...he was wearing a brown leather jacket, white shirt, blue jeans and black boots. Curly dark hair, sideburns..." She trailed off, looking at the bartender, hoping her description of Kowalski would jog his memory.

"Oh, that guy. He already left."  
"Damn!"

"Why?"

"No reason. I just wanted to talk to him real quick."

"Why? You wanna boink him?" Sid laughed. His bar patrons joined him in his raucous laughter.

"You're a pig, you know that?" She made a face of disgust at him and went to go find Kowalski. One guy went to go have a pinch at her butt, but she ignored him. Normally, she would've popped the guy, but she was so entranced with Kowalski that, at the moment, nothing else mattered to her.

She ran out through the exit that led to the alleyway. It was a chilly night. It would be real easy for her to catch a chill. Standing there for a moment, shivering, sopping wet, she gathered her thoughts for a moment. Where could've he gone?

"You know, you're gonna get sick like that, don't you?"

Startled, she whirled around. Standing about ten yards away, Kowalski was leaning against the door of the '72 Chevvy Camaro, smoking a cigarette.

Relieved, she smiled. But, how...how did he appear out of nowhere like that? Maybe in that moment of panic looking for him, she didn't see him watching her.

"Why'd you leave?" She asked, walking over to him. Getting closer to him, she could see he was really, really sexy. Aquamarine eyes. A day's worth of facial stubble to go with that curly head of hair and his sideburns. The white shirt underneath his jacket was open a little at the top. She could see a nice amount of chest hair. Oof. Yummy. A stranger in a sea of regulars who come to see her dance. She decided right then and there she wanted so much to make love to him. She hoped he was game to the idea. "Was it me, did I offend you?"

Pushing himself off the car, he looked her over as she approached him. He needed to get her dry and warm.

"No." He shook his head. "I don't know. I really liked watching you. But then, I felt bad...I-You know, really, you should go back inside and get warm. It's too cold for you to be out here, dressed like that."

"Felt bad? How come?"

"Um...it was just that..I" He paused, gathered his thoughts for a moment.. Then, "I may be old enough to be your father and by my watching you, I worried that I was coming across as a creepy, dirty old man.."

She smiled. "No, you weren't. Actually, I was having fun. It's nice to know that I was giving a good show." _Gosh, this man is so sexy...and so sweet as well._

Concerned, he asked, "But, aren't you aware or concerned about the obvious age difference between me and you?"

"Aware, yes. Concerned or freaked out? No. Actually, I like older men." She grinned. "But don't get me wrong, I'm no gold digger. Far from it. I may be an exotic dancer, but the idea that I can turn someone on, especially, someone like you, is a real boost."

"Someone like me?" He looked puzzled.

"There's just something about you. Something special. I look at you and I get a good feeling about you inside of me. Something good. Decent. And besides, to me, money isn't everything." She reached out to touch his cheek.

He started to pull away. "I, uh-seriously, you really should get inside and get something warm and dry on you." Not that he was turned off by her touching him; he saw that she trusted him not to take advantage of her. But he was afraid of his own vulnerability around women. He didn't want to come across as being too wishy-washy. Not only that, but he knew that he wasn't as virtuous as this woman here, was describing him to be. He was really, no better than anyone else, to be honest. He was taking uppers, for Chrissakes.

She sensed his hesitation, but she smiled and nodded, comfortingly. She reached again to touch his cheek. This time he let her, albeit hesitatingly. "It's ok," She said. "I trust you." She moved closer to him and got a slight whiff of a nice scent of aftershave or men's soap. Mmmmm.

A chilly wind blew through the alleyway, reminding her that she only had a robe on, covering her scant bikini. He was right about the air being chilly. Yeah, I should get dressed," she smiled. "Listen, my shift is just about over." She paused and looked at him. "Can you stay for a bit? Or do you need to leave?" _Please stay,_ she hoped. _I want to get to know you._

"Well, I was about to go back to my hotel room, but, um..."

"You're from out of town, right?"

"Yeah...How-" He was surprised. What was it about himself that made him easy to read by women?

"License plate," She nodded downward at the plate, smiling.

He glanced down at the Colorado license plate on his car. "Oh...right." He chuckled. "Well, I guess I can hang around for a bit."

"Good! Let me go change and I'll be right back, 'k?" He nodded.

She turned to go back to the strip club, but turned to look at him again. "You promise to wait and not disappear?" She looked worried. Or was it fear that maybe he might leave?

"Promise." He gave a small smile.

"Good. I'll be back." He nodded.

Later, they went to a small 24-hour diner that was frequented by all types of people from all walks of life. During the day, you got your mix of business people, tourists (mainly for the Hollywood sight-seeing), locals, etc. At late night: still some tourists, locals who just come in off their random shifts to either come in for a brief meal break from their jobs nearby; then, it was the wee, pre-dawn hours that brought in the pimps and prostitutes, exotic dancers, local workers, etc. The pimps and prostitutes were allowed, but only on the condition that they behaved themselves and not do their soliciting there. The people who ran it wanted to provide a clean, decent and enjoyable dining experience for business people and the tourists. Those were the ones, as well as the regulars who work nearby, that brought in the business.

She and Kowalski just hung out, for a couple of hours, talking over coffee. Even though Venus was her exotic dancer/stripper name (She chose the name, Venus, because it went with her space-age dance routines and that she was a big fan of science fiction b-movies, one of which was _Barbarella_ ), she told him that her real name was Norma and that she came from a small, midwestern town. It was then that he asked her:

"Don't you think you should be doing something better with your life?" He asked her, concerned.

"Like what?" Arching an eyebrow questioningly at him, she took a sip of her coffee.

He shrugged, playing with his coffee with his spoon. "I don't know...nursing, teaching."

"Yeah, I know, but the excitement comes from stripping."

"You said earlier, that you weren't a gold digger. Yet, you strip-tease dance. I mean, stripping, is a form of gold-digging, don't you agree? You're taking rather generous tips from men...older men," He raised an eyebrow at her, his aquamarine, desert eyes probing hers intensely.

She realized that he was calling her out on her career choice. She lowered her eyes, not sure what to say. Kowalski waited for a response. He wanted her to realize that what she was doing for a living could be harmful to her in the long run. Things like being exploited for her body, rape, etc. Or worse. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to think of what could happen to her eventually. He was really liking her. He found her to be really cute. But as much as he liked her performance earlier, he felt that she should have a better life.

It took a while for her to respond. Then she sighed and said, "I guess you got a point there. I don't know. I never really considered it that way. But like I said earlier, money may be a small reason why I strip tease, but not the main reason. I do it for the excitement of it. It turns me on. It's a form of sex, really."

Later:  
They were in Kowalski's motel room. They just had sex. Kowalski sat on the corner of the bed, in nothing on but his grey bikini briefs, smoking a cigarette, trying to come to grips with what he just did. He had sex with a stripper/prostitute.

Before the sex, he insisted on using a condom for two reasons: one because he didn't want to get her pregnant, and two, he had absolutely no interest in catching a sexually-transmitted disease. Not that he suspected her of having any. Something about her suggested to him that she was careful and choosy of those that she may have slept with and that she would normally insist on using some form of protection.

"I hope you don't mind..." he trailed off, smiling sheepishly.

"Not at all," she smiled. It was nice (and wonderful, she thought to herself) to know he was being responsible. Some of the men she had sex with didn't want to use one. They whined and complained like little boys about how condoms made them lose erection, or some other lame excuse. But she felt like she had to let them know about a new and very scary disease* that was making the news lately. Plus, she didn't want to get pregnant. It was either that, or no sex at all. Also, thank goodness for the Pill. She came up from behind and lovingly wrapped her arms around him. "Hey you. You ok?" She kissed the top of his head.

He turned his head, halfway, so she can see him smile.

"Yeah." But then turned his attention, to where, well...nothing in particular. He stared off into space then closed his eyes. He had sex with her. He felt wrong. He felt as though he took advantage of her.

She started to massage his shoulders. "Really? Somehow, I'm getting a vibe from you that something's not ok. Really, what's wrong?"

He sighed. "Nothing. Really. Nothing for you to worry about, ok? Let it go." His voice had a touch of annoyance to it. Slightly angry, he threw aside the bedsheet and got up to grab his jeans.

As he put his jeans back on, Kowalski glanced at her. She was watching him with a sad expression on her face. _Oh, boy,_ he thought. _Here we go._ He grabbed his white shirt and shrugged back into it. He tried not to look at her. Then, _C'mon, man. Don't get mad at her._

He looked at her again. He saw a tear stream down her face. "Hey...hey, c'mon." He walked over to her and caressed the tear from her cheek. She moved closer to him and kissed his abdomen. She laid her head against him. She decided right then and there this was the man she wanted to be with.

He continued to caress her then, "listen, get dressed, ok? I'll take you home." He kissed the top of her head. She nodded. She got out of bed to put her clothes back on. "I'll give you some privacy; I'm going out on the balcony for a smoke," he said. He tried not to stare at her; didn't want to creep her out. He walked out on the balcony, away from her as much as possible.

Though he was unaware, she was bummed that he was avoiding eye contact with her. She felt really low. She really wanted him and was hoping that he would want her. The sex was both wonderful and breathtaking; he was different from her other customers in the sense that he was a gentleman in the way he handled her. Never roughly. Very caring. He caressed every inch of her body. She loved that about him. She wanted more of him. But though as sad as she felt when the sex was over, she figured it wasn't wise to push him.

Outside, while he waited for Venus/Norma to put her clothes back on, Kowalski stared out at the nighttime sky. It was a beautiful, clear night.

* Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).


End file.
